Heartbreak and obsession over a break up is, without a doubt, emotional. It is not necessarily only emotional, though. It has physical manifestations, in the same way physical pain has emotional manifestations. Both can wreak havoc on the immune system, and 
lead to isolation and detachment from other people.
What a relief to find out kissing is good for you! Every time you turn on the television, or visit the hospital to see a sick friend, you are confronted with the evidence of killer germs which defy eradication. Last time I went to a hospital to visit someone, I nearly ran out screaming.
They had hand sanitizer and warning signs posted everywhere about some germ that has decided to immigrate to the US in search of a better life. You start avoiding bars, restaurants, and hotels because researchers are shining weird green lights everywhere so you can see the residue of people’s sperm on a bedspread, or the feces a stranger has left behind in the pretzels. And this may just be in your own home! Frankly, I’m a big believer in the ‘what you can’t see won’t hurt you’ school of thought. I’ve eaten those pretzels before, and never gotten sick.
Like an old-fashioned head of household, the back needs to be kept happy. Back pain relief is essential for normal daily functioning; nothing is easy when you suffer with back pain. I posted recently a piece about Thai massage and how the technique of having someone else stretch your muscles can help you walk more comfortably, and even improve back pain and leg pain. My guy continues to do this for me and I am improving just a bit every single day. There is also something new we have added which, like so many things in life, was a serendipitous discovery. We are taking a supplement from a local herb store called ‘Happy Back.’ I was selling an item I no longer needed, and the woman who came to look at it mentioned this formula. She talked us into trying it, and the rest is history.
This supplement is quite amazing. I have a friend who has high blood pressure and occasional kidney pain. He can feel stress in his kidneys, followed by a throbbing pain that can double him over. He started taking this supplement twice a day, for a total of eight tablets, and the pain in his kidneys has disappeared, his blood pressure is lower, and his back pain and sciatica is gone. I began taking it, and it may be coincidence, it may be the power of suggestion, or it may be the supplement, but the day I started taking it I had considerably less back pain. I took a total of eight tablets for two days, but I am going to continue with just four in the morning.
I looked at my favorite vitamin web site, Swanson Vitamins, to check whether they might have this formula cheaper. They do not, and neither does anyone else, as far as I can tell. The ingredients at 500mg are as follows: Juniper berries, parsley root, dandelion root, uva ursi, ginger root, althea root, goldenseal root, and astragalus.
Juniper berries were used by American Indians to treat diabetes, and a 17th century herbalist recommended it for asthma and sciatica (!!). Parsley root has traditionally been used to flush the urinary tract, which may explain the improvement in kidney pain in my friend. If the kidneys are experiencing distress, it makes sense that would affect a person’s back. Dandelion leaves and roots have been used as a diuretic and to improve liver function, and to bring down swelling or inflammation. It follows that if you are improving vital organ function, and bringing down inflammation, that would also improve back function, and ease pain.
Uva Ursi is also used to improve urinary tract functions; it reduces the swelling of mucous membranes which helps reduce inflammation. Ginger root may decrease pain from arthritis, according to studies, and may also be helpful in treating heart disease and lowering cholesterol, which may explain my friend’s drop in blood pressure. Althea root is a mucilage which makes it good for the respiratory system. Anything that removes excess fluid and mucous from the system can only improve it. Mucous is formed because there are foreign objects that the body is trying to get rid of, and this clogs the pipes, puts pressure on nerves in organs, and can cause aches and back pain. Goldenseal is often used to boost the medicinal effects of other herbs, and astragalus is antiinflammatory and can lower blood pressure.
I noticed that people have been coming to my site using the search term, Helen Kirwan-Taylor. Since I had never heard of her, I had to look her up and read the article she wrote that is creating so much buzz. After reading the article, I sat and wondered anew, haven’t we got other, more important things to worry about?
This woman, who is also a mother, is saying how bored she is, not with motherhood necessarily, but with children- her own children. To everyone’s horror, she has dared to express in words how much she detests even going to their parties or watching their sports, and their plays. Not that this makes her a monster; she has a perfect right to want to pursue her own interests and spend time doing the things she likes to do. Lord knows, I can’t remember my own parents ever getting involved in any of my interests. I went skating with my mother, occasionally, but that was me taking part in her activities. My mother did not jump on a horse to ride with me, or go out jogging or bicycling. When I got older, we’d go to the theater; that was us sharing a common interest. I think I grew up alright without the helicopter parent.
Unless children belong to you, they can be pretty boring, at times. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t listen and try to participate in their interests if they are within our ken. After all, are adults always scintillating companions? Do they always have only the most intelligent, and fascinating of interests and subjects to discuss? No, they don’t. And if you can’t show a modicum of interest in what a child is telling you, then don’t be surprised when they grow up to be the kind of people who don’t really care what you have to say.
Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of moaning about the disconnection between people because of the internet, and texting, and other forms of technology. I realize the media ( how is that for irony-the media bemoans the convenient access to information) has been writing and talking about this for some time. Since the invention of the printing press, apparently. I am getting a little tired of hearing about it; it seems like a non-issue.
People would rather give up sex, alcohol, chocolate, food, and their share of the available oxygen, according to a recent survey, rather than give up their cel phones. I can’t relate to this, at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve already had years of practice giving up almost all of the above things, with the obvious exception of oxygen. Most women have. They have tried every diet, which never include alcohol and chocolate, and they’ve been single, and tried to remain disease free, so that about covers everything. When it comes to the phone, I actively avoid answering it, if at all possible. I’m not sure why; it seems like a demanding intruder.
I read a good quote from a book by Steven Pinker, ‘The Stuff of Thought’ ( I accidentally typed ‘studd’, which I’m sure he’d 
appreciate) who says that distraction is not a new problem. Indeed, after watching mud dry and then crack, I’m sure we all appreciated having a television to watch. There must have been days when the moon and stars weren’t out, the weather was inclement, and we didn’t have a book to read (reading was considered a waste of time and a distraction at one time-unless it was a book of devotions or instruction).
Mr. Pinker goes on to say that habits of deep reflection and rigorous reasoning do not come naturally. They have to be developed, in the same way you discipline yourself to eat right, exercise, and set and achieve goals. Thinking deeply, reading deeply, and analyzing the data that comes your way, are matters of strategic planning, and deliberate enactment. He says it is never achieved simply by reading an encyclopedia that is set upon your lap, nor is it taken away by access to the information that is on the internet. These habits are acquired in institutions called universities. He and I parted ways here; I don’t believe these habits are necessarily conferred simply because you go to college, and I don’t believe you have to go to college in order to develop them. However, he goes on to say that they require constant upkeep called criticism, analysis, and debate.
I like his thoughts on the subject. Turn off the Blackberry, stop checking your emails obsessively, let the caller leave a voice mail, turn off the phone. As Walter Matthau once said, “The phone does not have a constitutional right to be answered”. The same is true of texts, emails, etc, ad nauseum.
Harriet Hall and I recently had the following conversation via email. I have found that the older I get, the less I am surprised by things, and I don’t know if this is a function of no longer believing in an intelligent universe, or a function of having seen it all already. Her viewpoint was predictable for the profession she is in, but I still thought her statement was irresponsibly reprehensible.
I have never actually tried to write to anyone that has published something with which I disagree. I believe I have written to the Op-Ed page a time or two; after all, discourse is part of our American life, and expressing opposing viewpoints gets our blood boiling when we forget to work out. Therefore, I rather surprised myself when I found the contact email for the author of an article I read: Harriet Hall. She touted herself as a doctor and a skeptic, and she stated in a review on a book with opposing viewpoints on aging that the authors believed ‘the myths about the dangers of aspartame’. I did a classic double take; more than twenty years ago when my mother was developing macular degeneration she did a lot of research on aspartame, which is what composes Nutrasweet and Equal. She had heard on the news that an optometrist advised one of his patients to stop drinking diet sodas after he started experiencing migraines and seizures. After my mother started her research, she found out that there were several groups suing Monsanto (heard of them recently?) and that groups such as a pilot’s association were recommending that their fellow pilots stop consuming aspartame.
I also investigated the websites she writes for, Skeptic.com and Quackwatch. I knew from just looking at their category headings what I would find, namely upholding of the status quo; they even had Rodale Press under the category to ‘beware’! Rodale Press publishes Prevention magazine which has the temerity to publish articles about healthy diets, exercise, and good nutrition. Gasp! Outrageous! Doctors don’t need that kind of subversive thinking from their patients!
At any rate, I wrote to Harriet Hall via email, she responded and the following is how the discourse proceeded:
Hello Dr. Hall;
I formed my opinion that aspartame is safe after reviewing the scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed journals. You provide only anecdotes and faulty information from biased sources. I think it is viewpoints like yours that are not based on adequate scientific evidence that are irresponsible.If you believe heartily in CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) treatments that have not been adequately tested or have shown negative test results and you don’t believe in mainstream treatments that have been adequately tested and proven to work, then it appears that you and I belong to different universes of discourse and there is no point in our trying to communicate. I would encourage you to read the Science-Based Medicine blog to learn about scientific thinking.
I had no idea I was in a book about longevity. Who is the author and what did my “opposing viewpoint on longevity” consist of?Harriet Hall, MD The SkepDoc
My reply to her reply:
‘You are wrong on several counts, but I have learned not to waste my time trying to argue with true believers. But I would like to know about the book.’
Me to her:
I told her I found the whole thing amusing and predictable, which I did, and came to understand further that you cannot change anyone’s opinion, even with the ‘facts’, and sometimes the facts are anecdotes. After all, what do researchers do but look at people, or animals, or whatnot, see an anomaly, and try through trial and error to find the common denominator? If I hear that for every one person who is ‘cured’ of cancer through chemotherapy, I also hear that ten more have died despite chemotherapy; I come to the conclusion that maybe chemotherapy isn’t working the way they say it is. If even pilots, a conservative lot on the whole, say that people shouldn’t be drinking diet soda because of some unfortunate effects it seems to be having on people, then I am going to pay some attention. You should, too.
Can acupuncture help alleviate the symptoms of depression? There have been studies and evidence showing that it may be possible. In the United States, depression is usually characterized as a disease or disorder in mental health. The Chinese characterize it as a blockage in the flow of energy. If we come back to the idea that we are a composite of the mental, emotional, and spiritual, then a blockage in energy anywhere could cause symptoms affecting the mind or the body.
There have been times that my whole being feels heavy and blocked. Allowing for the fact that women especially go through many periods of feeling overweight, that alone would not explain that feeling of heaviness. It is more of heaviness of spirit, but not necessarily a depressed feeling. Therefore, unblocking some channel in the psyche or body may result in a lighter, more optimistic feeling.
In acupuncture, needles are inserted along certain lines of the body in the effort to unblock whatever it is that is blocking that flow of energy. Perhaps in conjunction with the western idea of exercise releasing endorphins, and sweat getting rid of toxins, I think this may be an optimal regimen for lingering feelings of depression.
Brain hazards come in many forms, more than just getting hit in the head by a football when you were younger, or finishing that six-pack last weekend. If you are using over-the-counter drugs, or prescription drugs, you may be putting that orb at risk. Birth control pills, antacids, antidepressants, acetaminophen; any of these used on a regular basis could be interfering with its ability to function at optimum levels.
Here are some surprising findings from studies done at various think tanks and universities around the world. These are things we already know, but researchers have confirmed them for reasons we really hadn’t thought about. Remember the reasons when you begin to question where your tax dollars or all that ‘free’ grant money is going.
The first study I read about in Popular Science is about gamblers. Gamblers it seems, do not learn from their mistakes. Well, duh. I live in Vegas, and as people who love the obvious love to point out, these casinos weren’t built from winners! Gambling isn’t about mistakes, anyway. It is about thinking that your luck is about to change, and that you can and will beat the house. The scientists who conducted this study suspect that a mix of genetic and environmental factors influence the compulsive gambler. They are trying to pin down what goes on in the addict’s mind when they are at the tables. At the University of Pisa, researchers used card sorting activities to diagnose compulsive gamblers. The gamblers displayed normal verbal and memory skills, but had problems with problem solving. Instead of trying an alternative strategy, they would stick with what they knew. Which is the ‘my luck is just about to change’ syndrome I mentioned before. This study is meant to help researchers find a cure for gambling. Pardon my phraseology, but good luck with that.
The next study was done by researchers at the Ohio State University College of Optometry. Their conclusion was that face shields help protect the face. The plexiglas shields that football players use in their helmets to protect their faces, have no performance standards. So researchers smashed baseballs at the speed of 148 mph into the Nike and Oakey brand face shields. The shields did not shatter. The reason they did the study was to show that after time, the polycarbonate in used masks, after exposure to impact and light, tends to break down.
Here’s a study that caught my attention in particular because of its dietary and inflammation related consequences. This study says that the potato chips are bad for you. Duh, right? It’s titled ‘Chronic Intake of Potato Chips in Humans Increases the Production of Reactive Oxygen Radicals by Leukocytes and increases Plasma C-Reactive Protein: A Pilot Study’. Researchers at the National Institute of Food and Nutrition in Warsaw, Poland, fed 14 healthy subjects approximately half a bag of potato chips every day for a month. (Hey! Its for science, and I’d do it too!) They monitored the effects of acrylamide, a compound that forms while cooking certain starchy food like chips and fries. After almost a month, the subjects had higher levels of this compound and related inflammation that can lead to atherosclerosis, which leads to hardening of the arteries, which leads to heart disease. The compound was first detected in junk food in 2002, and they think it is a menace on the order of trans fats.
The next study focuses on binge drinking of people on their 21st birthday. This is bad. There are 1400 alcohol-poisoning related deaths of college age students every year. That is actually very high, and I can’t think why we don’t hear more in the general population about how alcohol can lead to death fairly quickly in the young. This study was done by researchers at the University of Missouri who interviewed 2500 college students. ‘Extreme bingeing can rapidly lead to to brain damage, and it is imperative that we acknowledge the danger’, the study concludes.
‘Girls like Pink’ states the next study. Researchers at the Newcastle University in England devised some tests that forced subjects to make a choice of colors on a computer screen based on instinct. Blue and green hues have universal appeal, but it happens that men hate pink, and women love it. I disagree with that to a certain extent, having seen men of all stripes, wear varying shades of pink and salmon, and look damn good. The reason for the study? They are hoping to shed more light on human evolution. Hunter-gatherer women may have developed an eye for red hues to help them find ripe fruit, or to ‘discern subtle changes in skin color due to emotional states and social-sexual signals’, which would help them to spot potential mates and facilitate social interaction.
Toothpaste is a luxury in poor countries, according to another study. In a year, a family in Zambia would have to spend 4 percent of its income on toothpaste for an adequate supply. With this study, as well as a few others, I tend to be a little suspicious. Where’s the money for the research coming from? Is it coming from the companies that produce toothpaste? Fluoride toothpaste was mentioned in the study, and it is still a matter of debate whether fluoride is really necessary to prevent cavities. The study did say, that the proliferation of a Western diet with its processed foods, was contributing to more tooth decay in these populations. How about a little education, also? The researchers say that this is a very winnable public-health problem, and suggest producing toothpaste locally, and bringing down packaging costs.
Husbands make more housework, states another study. The University of Michigan has been tracking these things since 1968. Married women work seven more hours a week than single women, but for married men, they worked one hour less a week than their bachelor buddies. While this seems like another reason to stay single and eat over the sink, the study shows that modern married women are actually gaining ground. They spent 26 hours a week on housework in 1976, and 17 in 2005. Men clocked 6 hours in 1976, and 13 in 2005. See? We knew all their bellyaching had to have something behind it.
Bars and liquor stores lead to violence. A research fellow in Melbourne, Australia studied violence near bars and liquor stores for nine years. While we know this to be true, his suggestion is to put more distance between the stores through regulation, and to spread the bars and clubs that are located in the cities, around a little more.
Scrawny boys and overweight boys both abhor gym. A Canadian study has been doing a three year study, monitoring gym classes. You might wonder why this is necessary, especially if you were a child with anything but a perfect body, and a perfect body image. He says that avoidance of gym class can be an early sign of trouble of in boys, something to watch out for, because it can lead to social isolation or obesity.
The final study tells us that ducks like water. A study in Great Britain wanted to know how the access to water affects the health of commercial ducks, which are eaten in Britain. Ducks that have access to a clean bath are tidier than those without, although many ducks preferred a shower. Just the thought of ducks being denied something so basic to their natures, bothers me. However, the commercial duck breeders would like to provide them with baths, they say, but that can lead to more problems. Stagnant ponds lead to bacterial infestation, that gets passed up the food chain. So, they have decided to go with the shower. Ducks seem to spend more time in the shower also, they’ve noticed. Hmmm, wonder if they are related to any of my family membe